The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life
surprised at this, as I had been told that the Americans could not
fight.” He followed the British army until the conclusion of the Battle
of the Thames, October 5th, 1813, with its disastrous consequences,
when, in the face of defeat to his friends, he, with twenty of his
braves, deserted in the night time for home, assigning for his reason:
“I was now tired of being with them, our success being bad and having
got no plunder.”[21] Not a patriotic declaration, to be sure! He arrived
home in the spring of 1814, and instead of settling down to peaceful
pursuits, endeavoring to make slight amends for his unjustifiable
warfare against the Americans, whose country he then occupied, he began
a long and bloody series of diabolical raids, inciting others to do the
same, until the remotest settlement mourned its dead.
In after years, when conquered, instead of expressing any contrition for
his acts, he invented for his autobiography a sympathetic sort of story,
but neither fact nor tradition comes to the rescue when it is analyzed.
Black Hawk claimed that he had one friend bound closer to him than was
usual, and in consideration of this unusual affinity he adopted the
friend’s only son. When departing to join the British, Black Hawk urged
the father to send the son to the war. To this proposition the father
protested his declining years, the favor with which the whites had
always treated him, the need of the boy’s assistance at home, and
refused to allow him to leave.
Returning from the war, Black Hawk said, as he was approaching his
village he saw a column of smoke curling over a hilltop near by, which
so excited his curiosity that he visited the spot alone (fortunate
intuition). There he found his old friend sitting in sorrow upon the
ground. Being revived by some water, the old man related to Black Hawk
the story of the murder of his son near Fort Madison, whither they had
gone to pass the winter and hunt under permission of the commandant. The
story continues that the young man started one day, as usual, for a
day’s hunting. At nightfall he had not returned and the father passed a
sleepless night. The following morning the boy had not come back and the
father sent the mother to rouse the neighborhood. (Why was she not then
present to minister to him?) Footsteps upon the snow soon brought the
party to the spot where the boy was found to have shot and skinned a
deer and hung it upon a branch. Here tracks indicated the presence of
white men who had come upon and taken him prisoner. Following their
trail, the body of the boy was soon found, the face shot, the body
pierced with dagger thrusts and the scalp removed, while his arms had
been pinioned at his sides. As the old man related this story, a great
storm rose which lasted for a long time, as though the heavens were
angered at the offense and threatening revenge. The old man died, and as
the storm subsided Black Hawk wrapped his blanket around the body, and,
kindling a fire, sat by it during the night. Were this story true, the
act were too dastard to find any explanation, but, as already stated,
neither contemporaneous history nor tradition from the many who love to
tell such tales confirms this weird invention. On the contrary, Fort
Madison had been finally besieged by Indians during the preceding year
(1813), the garrison starved to shadows, and only by stratagem were the
officers and men enabled to escape, which was accomplished by digging a
trench to the river, when, after firing the buildings, they descended
the river in boats.[22] Therefore, if the winter just passed, which is
the only inference deducible from Black Hawk’s account, was the winter
referred to, the father and son got no permission from the commandant,
because there was no fort remaining and no commandant, and, in view of
the hostility of the Indians, no settlers remained about the locality,
unprotected as they would have been. If by any juggling of dates the
winter referred to had been the one of ’12-’13, the peaceful Indians had
by their own request been removed far to the southwest, the garrison had
just gone through the first long siege before mentioned and only escaped
butchery by the plot which the Indian maiden had exposed.
None but hostile Indians were about the fort, and if the young man was
unknown and killed as related, he was certainly considered an enemy. If
known as the adopted son of Black Hawk, then openly fighting the
Americans, it was a fair presumption that he got no permission to hunt
and was considered as taken red-handed. The community inside Fort
Madison was in a serious mood those days and in no condition to receive
Indians with rifles on advantageous terms. Black Hawk arrived at his
village filled with indignation, as he has said. He was met by the
chiefs and braves and conducted to the lodge prepared for him. After
eating, he gave an account of himself and his travels, crediting the
Americans with some valor and marksmanship. In turn, the village chief
replied that with the absence of Black Hawk and his following, they
would have been unable to defend themselves had the Americans attacked
them. Not only had they been unmolested, but when Quash-qua-me, the
Lance and other chiefs, with their old men, women and children,
descended the Mississippi to St. Louis for protection, the Americans
received them with every evidence of friendship, sent them up the
Missouri River and there abundantly provided for them.
Black Hawk found on his return that Keokuk, during his absence, had been
made principal war chief of the Sac nation, which so enraged him that I
am forced to believe his attack upon that chief, which followed, was
unwarranted, though he magnanimously concluded his philippic with the
statement that he was satisfied.
Keokuk, chief of the Sacs, who was above Black Hawk in civil affairs,
had, from reasons of polity or preference, maintained close and constant
relations of friendship with the Americans and had prospered in the
estimation of the latter. His rising fortune created friction from the
first, then envy and finally implacable hatred on the part of Black
Hawk, who found himself unable to combat the influence of Keokuk, either
overtly or covertly, by reason of his incapacity. Instead of meeting
Keokuk on terms as nearly equal as his intellect would permit, he
invariably grew angry, allowed his baser nature to master him, and left
the scene vowing vengeance on the victor. Had he been able to throw off
his anger after a brief season, as many impulsive men can do, he might
yet have accomplished much, but a yellow streak in his nature forbade
it, and, I honestly believe, impelled the man onward to ruinous
decisions in spite of himself. His melancholy made him churlish and
revengeful, and consequently dissatisfied, unless punishing some real or
imaginary wrong.
British agents could not influence Keokuk, whose temper was naturally
amiable and gentle, and, if one wishes to adopt Black Hawk’s sarcasm,
politic, too. He favored peace always. In a sense he was luxurious for
an Indian, fond of pomp, and those attributes might in a measure have
superinduced his love of peace; but peaceful he was after the fire of
youth had somewhat succumbed to the influence of the whites, and so he
continued unto his dying day. His oratory was so perfect, his logic so
convincing, his person so magnetic and his pleas so engaging, that poor
Black Hawk made a sorry figure against him, and, after a few attempts,
dared never again appeal to the reason of his people against the
invincible Keokuk.[23] As an orator, Keokuk had no equal among the red
men, and the influence it acquired for him so rankled in the heart of
Black Hawk that the latter could never overcome his hatred of Keokuk.
Even down to the very last speech he ever made, at Fort Madison, he
could not repress an unfortunate fling at his rival; and too bad it was
that he allowed his passion to sway him from a plain and simple talk
upon past or present events. The words and sentiments of that little
talk were truly beautiful and had reflected much credit had he resisted
the temptation to speak ill of Keokuk. His life was then ebbing away,
and had that offensive portion of his talk been omitted, very many of
his evil acts could have been pardoned and forgotten. His melancholy and
his temper were his undoing.
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Footnote 1:
Occasionally rendered in early life “Black Sparrow Hawk.”
Footnote 2:
His weight is commonly placed at 140 pounds.
Footnote 3:
This statement, written at the time, would seem to warrant the
assertion by friends that Black Hawk’s old and disfigured “plug” hat
was buried with him, instead of a military cap, as contended by a few
claiming knowledge.
Footnote 4:
Much has been written of the perfection of Black Hawk’s head; so much
that it may not be inappropriate to refer to an article to be found in
the American Phrenological Journal for November, 1838, Vol. I, No. 2,
page 51 et seq. On page 60: “We are much pleased with the following
extract from the pen of the editor of the U.S. Literary Gazette,
Philadelphia: ‘We found time yesterday to visit Black Hawk and the
Indian chiefs at the Congress Hall Hotel. We went into their chamber,
and found most of them sitting or lying on their beds. Black Hawk was
sitting on a chair and apparently depressed in spirits. He is about
sixty-five, of middling size, with a head that would excite the envy
of a phrenologist–one of the finest that Heaven ever let fall on the
shoulders of an Indian.’
1. Amativeness, large. 20. Constructiveness, small.
2. Philoprogenitiveness, large. 21. Ideality, moderate.
3. Adhesiveness, large. 22. Imitation, small.
4. Inhabitiveness, large. 23. Mirthfulness, full.
5. Concentrativeness, large. 24. Individuality, very large.
6. Combativeness, very large. 25. Form, very large.
7. Destructiveness, very large. 26. Size, very large.
8. Alimentativeness, average. 27. Weight, large.
9. Acquisitiveness, large. 28. Color, large.
10. Secretiveness, very large. 29. Order, large.
11. Cautiousness, full. 30. Calculation, large.
12. Approbativeness, very large. 31. Locality, very large.
13. Self-esteem, very large. 32. Eventuality, very large.
14. Firmness, very large. 33. Time, uncertain.
15. Conscientiousness, moderate. 34. Tune, uncertain.
16. Hope, small. 35. Language, large.
17. Marvelousness, large. 36. Comparison, large.
18. Veneration, very large. 37. Causality, average.
19. Benevolence, moderate.
Measurements from his bust:
Circumference of the head, around 23 inches
philoprogenitiveness, secretiveness and
eventuality
From ear to ear, over firmness 14 6·8 ”
” ” veneration 14 6·8 ”
From the meatus auditoris to firmness 6½ ”
” ” veneration 6⅓ ”
” ” benevolence 6⅛ ”
” ” comparison 6⅛ ”
” ” individuality 5½ ”
” ” 5⅛ ”
philoprogenitiveness
” ” self-esteem 6⅝ ”
From destructiveness to destructiveness 6⅝ ”
From secretiveness to secretiveness 6⅝ ”
From combativeness to combativeness 5⅝ ”
From cautiousness to cautiousness 5⅞ ”
From ideality to ideality 5 ”
“These measurements are taken with callipers, from the bust of Black